Follow us

Giving Pedestrians the “Green Man” Priority in London

As part of Mayor Kahn’s plan to increase daily walking trips in London from 6 million to 7 million by 2041, the City of London is looking at how to make walking safer, comfortable and more convenient for walkers. While adjusting signals to give pedestrian more “green man” time at signalized intersections, staff will also be using “SCOOT”.

SCOOT stands for “Split Cycle Offset Optimization Technique” which will be installed at ten intersections to give pedestrians priority. The city of London is on a mission to make walking as convenient as possible, using smarter traffic signals that reduce wait times for pedestrians. These smart signals ” can detect the number of pedestrians waiting at an intersection and automatically adjust timing to minimize their wait and ensure they have enough time to cross” according to Streetsblog.

And here’s the cool part~the “Green Man” initiative allows for a continuous pedestrian green signal until vehicular traffic is near, when pedestrians are then given the red signal. The technology has been tested by Transport for London on two streets with only bus traffic prior to this wider rollout, and was very well received by pedestrians. This is all part of the London Walking Action plan which can be viewed here.